


Read the last page first.

by DragonSorceress22



Series: Dove Chocolate One Shots [9]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Family, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, One Shot, Post-Conan Kudou Shinichi, Sappy Ending, Short One Shot, just a tiny bit angsty, sap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-27 14:36:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15026804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonSorceress22/pseuds/DragonSorceress22
Summary: It’s a waiting game, that’s all it is.





	Read the last page first.

**Author's Note:**

> Because the Dove Chocolate One Shots set is my dumping ground for weird stuff that does not fit my usual patterns. 
> 
> Beta’d once again by [solomonara](http://archiveofourown.org/users/solomonara/pseuds/solomonara/works)! This one prolly gave her cavities.

Relationships meant compromise. It was a fact of their nature, and it was a fact that both Shinichi and Kaito had solidly accepted. That was why, when all Shinichi wanted to do was finish up the novel he was reading before bed and all Kaito wanted to do was cuddle up and sleep, they ended up in odd positions like this.

Shinichi was sitting up against the pillows. Kaito was stretched out on his stomach, flattened on top of Shinichi’s left leg with his head resting on Shinichi’s chest. Shinichi’s left arm was resting across Kaito’s shoulders so he could hold his book open behind Kaito’s head with both hands. He’d assumed Kaito had dozed off in the low light, but then Kaito murmured against Shinichi’s shirt, “You haven’t turned a page in a while. You’re thinking about the gift again.”

“I’m not even allowed to _think_ about it?”

“That depends,” Kaito muttered, not budging from his apparently boneless sprawl and not opening his eyes. “Are you just soaking in the knowledge and excitement of knowing I got you a present and that it must be something amazing, and you’re waiting to find out what it is with bated breath?”

Shinichi looked down at him with a tight-lipped, flat expression. Kaito couldn’t have seen it but he took in the lack of response and smirked. “Or are you deducing what it is based on tiny little clues that no human should have noticed.”

“What do _you_ think?” Shinichi huffed.

“I think you’re not allowed to think about the present. You’ll ruin it.”

“You know trying not to think about something is the same as thinking about it.” He finally closed the book and that was enough to get Kaito to shift a little. Shinichi squirmed as he got some feeling back in his leg. “What do you want me to do?”

Kaito opened his eyes and propped himself up on one elbow. “Just turn off the deduction part for now.”

“I can’t ‘turn it off’. It’s just part of a detective’s nature.”

Kaito peered up at him, searching, then gave a skeptical little, “Hm,” and eased the book out of Shinichi’s hands. He rolled off of him to sit up and flipped to the last page.

“…What the hell are you doing?!” Shinichi snatched the book away and hugged it to his chest. “Were you reading that? You don’t start at the end!”

“Why not? I’m finding out the answer before they tell me. I want to see what’s so great about this detective thing.”

“That’s not the same at all!” He turned away a little, putting himself between the book and Kaito.

“Oh?” Kaito purred. He seemed to slither up closer, draping himself against Shinichi like he’d gone boneless all over again. “Isn’t it?” he insisted. “Or is it true that the point of some things–” He waved the book in Shinichi’s peripheral vision and Shinichi started, completely unaware of how Kaito had gotten it back. “–is the experience? The journey? Books are carefully constructed. Things happen in a certain order. Similarly, for this gift, I have carefully constructed a plan, and that means no reveal until it’s _time_ to reveal. You got it?”

Shinichi grabbed for the book again and Kaito let him take it, but he was still plastered to Shinichi like he had melted against him. “Okay,” Shinichi allowed. “I get it. But I still won’t be able to help deducing things. I mean, I can promise not to _try_ but–”

Kaito stopped him with a kiss, his fingers gentle on Shinichi’s cheek as he turned Shinichi’s head to meet him, leaning in from behind. “Don’t worry,” he murmured. “It’s not too much longer now.”

 

Shinichi wasn’t sure at first how to feel when Kaito brought him to _that door_ in their house when it was time for the big reveal. He knew he’d been subconsciously avoiding that room for the past several months so of _course_ Kaito would hide the gift there. It was only logical. Or maybe the gift _was_ the room. Maybe Kaito had remodeled it into something else entirely. Maybe… he’d finally given up, too.

Shinichi tried to smile back at Kaito. He could feel that it was off but he couldn’t help that.

“Oh, Shinichi,” Kaito breathed out.

It was the saddest, most broken smile Kaito had ever seen on anyone. He pulled Shinichi in immediately, wrapping him up in his arms and touching a gentle kiss to the side of his head. “You still don’t get it, do you,” Kaito whispered. “Here. Come here.” He reached back and turned the knob without looking, walking backwards into the room and leading Shinichi along.

The nursery was done all in deep blue. A glittering solar system mobile turned gently in one corner under the white constellations painted across the ceiling and walls, reflecting light from the moon-shaped crystal lamp on the small table beside the crib. A changing table stood by the window, a painted toy chest to the right of the door, and two short, secured bookshelves meeting in the left corner on a play mat on the floor.

Shinichi’s eyes were staring to sting. He took in a breath and it shuddered. There was no way he could speak. When Kaito silently took Shinichi’s hand and pressed his phone into it, gentle but insistent, Shinichi just looked down at it mechanically. On the screen was a message from the adoption agency confirming that they’d been selected. He took another shaky breath.

“You are seriously a mess right now,” Kaito laughed when the phone screen went dark and Shinichi still hadn’t moved. Shinichi hurriedly handed it back and rubbed his sleeve over his eyes.

“Sorry,” he finally managed. Only the second syllable really came out.

Kaito smiled and cuddled up close against Shinichi’s side. “These are happy tears, right?” he said, but he truly had no doubt that they were. Still, it surprised him – the emotion packed into the tight, choked words when Shinichi finally admitted, “Kaito, I had given up.” It hit Kaito hard, enough that he had to close his eyes and re-center himself so he wouldn’t lose his own voice as well.

“I know,” he said. “But I couldn’t.”

Shinichi finally raised his head to look at him, eyes wet and brimming.

“We don’t have to wait anymore,” Kaito told him. He took Shinichi’s hands and squeezed, his eyes earnest. “We don’t have to wonder. No more rejections. Just… parenthood, right?”

Shinichi’s sudden smile cracked away the stillness that had been gripping him. His tears spilled over and he was laughing as he fell against Kaito, clutching as too much emotion shook though his chest and shoulders. Kaito just held tight, stable where Shinichi was weak, and maybe, just maybe, they could actually pull this off.

_After all,_ Shinichi thought. _Little miracles are the Moonlight Magician’s specialty._

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote the first half of this aaaages ago, wrote the notes out for the second half some four months ago, only just now got around to polishing it up and sending for beta. Definitely a weird thing that does not fit my usual patterns as far as content goes. *shrug*
> 
> Things are moving along well again for chapter 2 of Tales of Travel, but it’s not done yet. I’ll be really happy when I finally get to proceed to chapter 3 *wistful sigh* lol
> 
> Thanks for reading~!
> 
> ~DS


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